The Wacky Adventures of the Wide-Mouth Frog

Contents
Story 1
Wide-Mouth Explores His Neighborhood

Story 2
Wide-Mouth Rescues His New Friend

Story 3
Mr. Beaver and the Great Flood

Story 4
Visiting Farm Animals on Eagle Airlines

Story 5
A Family Picnic Before School Starts

This excerpt begins from approximately halfway into Chapter 4

Chapter 4
Visiting Farm Animals on Eagle Airlines

    Mrs. Eagle motioned for Wide-Mouth to jump onto her back. He braced himself for flight and this time he kept his eyes wide open. Suddenly, Mrs. Eagle took off in another burst of energy, flying higher and higher up into the air. Wide-Mouth could see the silo much clearer as they got closer to the farm. He also saw many other buildings that he guessed were part of the big farm.

    As they got closer, Mrs. Eagle slowed down and prepared to land at the edge of the farm. Soon, they were on the ground and Wide-Mouth stared with that big grin of his, looking at and listening to all the different farm animals.

    "Now, Wide-Mouth, you be extra careful. We'll meet back here in one hour, so don't be late. Do you understand?" Mrs. Eagle warned.

    Wide-Mouth nodded his head. He watched as the eagle took off for the nearby woods. Wide-Mouth looked at the farm and didn't know where to begin - it was all so big and mysterious.

    He then saw a big funny-looking animal close by. He happily hopped his way over and promptly introduced himself in his usual way.

    "Hi. I'm a Wide-Mouth frog. Who are youuuuu...?"
    The animal stopped eating and said the strangest thing. "Moooooo!"
    Wide-Mouth had no idea how to respond to that funny sound. So he tried once again. "I'm a Wide-Mouth frog. Who are youuuuu...?"
    "Moooooo! Moooove over so I can eat," it ordered.

    Wide-Mouth quickly obliged and hopped out of the animal's way. He asked once again who the animal was and this time he finally got an answer.

    "I'm a cooooowww. A Moooooo Cooowww."
    Wide-Mouth was surprised by the strange voice of the cow but he paid no notice as he said, "Wow, a cow! That's so cool! Well, what do cows eat?"
    The cow stopped chewing with its mouth full of food, looked at Wide-Mouth, and replied, "I'll give you one guess."
    Wide-Mouth looked to the ground and saw as plain as day that the cow ate grass. "Silly Wide-Mouth," he thought, "I should have figured that out for myself." He thanked the big cow and said he would be on his way. The cow grinned at Wide-Mouth and lowered its head to the ground to continue eating.

    "Boy, he sure likes to eat," Wide-Mouth said as he hopped through the grass, ready to meet his next farm animal friend.

    It wasn't long before he spotted another strange creature. There was not just one of them but dozens that were running around, clucking and clucking as they pecked the ground for food. They looked like strange birds, but they didn't seem to fly. They just ran about the ground, clucking and pecking, clucking and pecking.

    Wide-Mouth tried to get their attention, but they didn't even notice him. He wasn't used to not being noticed before, so he opened his mouth and started to say something, but then stopped as many clucking birds fluttered past him.
    "I'm a... I'm..."

    He kept trying to find room to speak amongst all the clattering and cluttering, fluttering and pecking. The animals were rushing by so fast that he could only ask his question one word at a time.

    "Wide-Mouth...I'm a...frog. Hello...? I'm... Wait! Stop for a minute...I'm a wide...frog...mouth. Who... are...?"

    His head kept moving quickly from the left to the right and back again as he watched a blur of animals running about.

    "Boy this is going to be tough," he thought.
    Wide-Mouth sat as those crazy birds ran and ate, clucked and pecked. He was exhausted just watching them. He tried to ask one more time, but they still didn't notice. Suddenly, he hopped high into the air and accidentally landed right on the back of one. All the animals stopped when the noticed the funny looking frog. Wide-Mouth blushed as he got up enough nerve to speak again.

    "Heh, um... Well... I'm Wide-Mouth the Frog. Ahem... Who... are... you?" he slowly asked.

    One of the leader birds stepped forward.

    "We are chickens. And you, Mr. Frog, are in our chicken coop. Aren't you afraid?"

    Wide-Mouth nodded that he was afraid, but he stayed right where he was, looking into the eyes of the giant chicken. Suddenly, the big chicken started to laugh, and soon the whole chicken coop laughed hysterically. Wide-Mouth was pretty confused, so he also started laughing even though he didn't really know what was so funny.

    "Hey everybody, this here is Wide-Mouth the Frog," the big chicken said as the other chickens kept laughing. It was all quite puzzling to our frog friend. Still, he thought it best to play along. "Mr. Frog, you're either really brave or really stupid. But, like I always say, 'courage is fear that has said its prayers.'"

    "Well, I'm cool," he answered. "I say my prayers every night, Mr. Chicken. And I surely hope I get to say them tonight, too."

    The big chicken lowered himself to Wide-Mouth's level. "You will, my four-footed friend, you will."

    Wide-Mouth then got up the courage to ask his second and most important of all his questions.

    "Mr. Chicken, what do you eat?"

    Mr. Chicken stopped and thought for a moment. He looked puzzled as he glanced at some of the other chickens. Nobody had ever asked him that question before, and it never really seemed to matter. He looked back at Wide-Mouth and whispered his answer to him.
    "I don't know what I'm eating. I never thought about it before."

    Wide-Mouth was very surprised by that answer. He looked around and saw many little tiny yellow things on the ground and scattered all over the place. He also had no idea what they were.

    "Beats me. As long as you like how it tastes," Wide-Mouth said.

    The chickens just laughed and laughed. They all agreed that whatever it was they ate, it tasted pretty good. Wide-Mouth said he would have to be on his way so he thanked all the chickens for his wonderful visit and began hopping out of the chicken coop.

    The chickens waved good-bye and quickly began pecking at the ground, eating those strange yellow things. Wide-Mouth thought to himself that chickens weren't really all that bright. Every animal should know what it is they like to eat. So he happily went on to visit his next farm animal friend.

    After a few minutes of hopping around, he heard a strange snorting sound. It came from a giant mud hole that had a small fence around in. Wide-Mouth hopped over to it and jumped to the top of the fence. There he saw the strangest sight of all - these big animals were all covered in mud, snorting their way from one end of the pound to another. They seemed to enjoy being covered in thick, gooey, dark mud.

    "Was it a game? Were they eating the mud? Do I dare ask?" Wide-Mouth wondered.

    He didn't have to ask because suddenly one of the animals stopped snorting and looked right at Wide-Mouth. Our frog friend nearly fell off the fence as he saw the big, funny looking face of the animal.

    "Who goes there?" it asked.

    Wide-Mouth knew it was talking to him. He swallowed his breath and spoke. "I'm a wide-mouth frog. Who are youuuu?" he instinctively asked with that familiar tone of curiosity.

    The other animals stopped snorting and looked at Wide-Mouth. The mud covered animal finally spoke.

    "We're pigs. P-I-G-S. Pigs... Pigs... Pigs...!"

    "Wow, that's a really long name," Wide-Mouth said innocently.

    This caused all the pigs to burst out in laughter. Wide-Mouth, once again, was confused by their reaction and just laughed right along with the best of them.

    No! No! No, Mr. Frog! We are pigs. Only one ‘pig' for each pig," he explained.

    Then Wide-Mouth realized what he meant. "Oh. Each one of you is a pig! That's too cool..."

    The dirty pig rolled his eyes in disbelief. "You gotta stop hanging out with those dumb chickens."

    Everyone laughed at the funny joke and Wide-Mouth finally felt at ease with his new, fat friends, the Pigs. Wide-Mouth sat and chatted with the pigs for some time. They were very curious about where Wide-Mouth came from. He told the pigs many stories of his recent adventures.

    Soon he realized that it was almost past the hour when he needed to meet up for his ride on American Eagle Airlines.

    Oh my gosh, I gotta run!" Wide-Mouth said.

    But before he left, Wide-Mouth asked the pigs a rather strange question. To this day, the smart pigs are still trying to figure out why Wide-Mouth asked them a question he should have asked the chickens.

    "Excuse me, Mr. Pig, but could you please tell me what chickens eat?"

    The giant pig looked puzzled by the question, but he obliged and told Wide-Mouth what he needed to hear.

    Chickens? Why they eat corn! Corn... Corn... Corn..."

    Wide-Mouth guessed that the chickens ate one corn at a time. He thanked the pigs for such a fun visit and began hopping back to the chicken coop. Just as he reached the coop, he yelled at the top of his lungs.

    "Corn!" was all he need to croak to the flock of chickens.

    Not only did the chickens stop right in their tracks, but the pigs also raised their heads in curiosity, as did the big Moo Cow out in the pasture. Wide-Mouth was really impressed with himself for speaking so loudly. Mr. Chicken came over to the edge of the coop to inquire.

    "What was that, Mr. Frog?"

    Wide-Mouth was so proud for having discovered what it was that they ate. He rose onto his hind legs and spoke again.

    Those little yellow things you are eating are called corn! Corn... Corn... Corn!"

    The head chicken looked at Wide-Mouth, turned to the other chickens and spoke. "Wow, that's a really long name, isn't it?"

    They all broke into a cackling laugher, repeating "Corn! Corn! Corn! Corn," as they clucked and pecked at the ground.

    Wide-Mouth decided that he was running a bit too late to explain that it was only one piece of corn per peck. But it really didn't seem to matter - Wide-Mouth had done his good deed for the day.

    Luckily, his timing was perfect. Just as he neared the edge of the farm, he saw Mrs. Eagle flying toward him. She landed right next to Wide-Mouth with her mouth full of something strange. Of course, most birds love to eat worms, but Wide-Mouth wasn't aware of that fact quite yet. As he got onto Mrs. Eagle's back to fly home, he finally asked her what it was that she liked to eat.

    "Wide-Mouth, you don't really want to know now do you?" she playfully asked.

    Wide-Mouth looked at Mrs. Eagle, thought for a brief moment, and responded. "No, I guess I really don't. Thanks for not telling me."

    Together, they flew back to the Big Pond where Mrs. Eagle set Wide-Mouth down right in front on the entrance to his home. Luckily for Wide-Mouth, his two older brothers saw him come in for a landing with Mrs. Eagle. Once again, Wide-Mouth had a great story to tell his whole family. As he waved goodbye, he thought for a moment that he had seen worms in the eagle's mouth.

    "Worms? No, it couldn't be worms, could it?" he wondered.